Cab Driver Keeps Woman From Being "Grandparent Scam" Victim

Feb 11, 2019

Police in Quincy, Massachusetts are praising a taxi driver who realized an elderly woman was the victim of a scheme to get thousands of dollars from her and stopping it. Authorities say Yellow Cab driver Richard Spencer picked up an 87-year-old woman who wanted to go to Walmart to buy gift cards for her grandson who she said was in trouble.

But the driver knew that story sounded familiar and warned her. Another driver had told Spencer that the same woman had already bought two gift cards for $2,000 each earlier that day and he recognized it as a “textbook grandparent scam.” He told her that it wasn’t her grandson, but someone posing as him, and instead of taking her to Walmart, he took her to the Quincy Police station, where officers confirm she was being scammed.

Police say someone pretending to be her grandson called and said he had been in a car accident and that he needed gift cards so he wouldn’t go to jail. The caller told her how to get a cab, go to the store, buy gift cards and call back with the gift card pin numbers. While she did lose the $4,000 she had already spent that day, Spencer kept her from losing thousands more.

“Thank you Mr. Spencer for caring,” Quincy Police write in a Facebook post. “You could have chosen to remain silent and ignore the signs. But you didn’t. And for that we say THANK YOU.”